Amazing that no one was hurt or killed, except for the P-51...

Just heard about this today. Very lucky Mustang pilot, if he hadn't realized he had no control & bailed a second later it would have ended very different & tragic.

That's some amazing footage. It's incredible that the tail of the Mustang remained more or less intact after that severe of an impact--the airplane returning to straight and level long enough to bail out probably saved the pilot. Strong airplanes the Mustangs are. Glad everyone's ok, that chute opened none too soon!

I wonder how much (if any) control he had after the collision. It appears that the plane dove sharply right as he was exiting, which means that he might have still had at least some pitch control. Not second guessing his decision at all, I think he did the right thing, and amazingly quick.

General question for the warbird pilots here: The canopy was jettisoned almost immediately. Does that mean that he was committed to bailing out that quickly too, or is getting rid of the canopy the first thing you would do in a situation like that in order to leave your options open (midair collision -> jettison canopy -> see if problem can be sorted out -> decide to bail)?

From what i heard today, He still had aileron authority but the push/pull tubes that are near the bottom of the fuselage aft of the radiator were most likely damaged, no pitch control.

Not sure what emg procedures are in a Mustang, but it appears he quickly realized his stick was either jammed fore/aft or freely moving with no control surface response, leveled & released canopy, released belts, bail. If youve never sat in the cockpit of a Mustang, it's tight, no small feat to exit rapidly & luckily he did not get snagged.

Video looks like he hit the tail on the way out. I know in the T-6, procedure briefed for pilot & Pax egress is to climb out onto L wing & hold foot step & attempt to slide off the trailing edge into slipstream. He didn't have altitude to worry much how he got the F out & must not have hit his head or the chute wouldn't have opened that quick.

Tough old birds. The Skyraider made it down safe with what, 3 feet of wing missing?

I've been to the legends show before and if your into Warbirds I highly recommend adding it to the bucket list. Nothing like listening to Merlins ALL DAY not just for one performance like we get over here. The Duxford museum is insane! This was very sad to see. Between the Big Beautiful Doll and the Liberty Bell it's been a bad season for the Warbirds. Like others have mentioned thank goodness no one was killed.

NoCOpilot wrote:General question for the warbird pilots here: The canopy was jettisoned almost immediately. Does that mean that he was committed to bailing out that quickly too, or is getting rid of the canopy the first thing you would do in a situation like that in order to leave your options open (midair collision -> jettison canopy -> see if problem can be sorted out -> decide to bail)?

I am surprised it took so long for this thread to show up here.

At this altitude he did everything right (post impact)...had he waited any longer he would have had no choice but to ride it in. A hit like that (turned the aircraft nearly 90 degrees) would be very violent in the cockpit and sound / feel like a bomb went off...with no altitude available to troubleshoot you hit the silk immediately or ride it in, there are no other options available. Had this happened with some altitude it may have turned out differently, but I have a feeling that Rob may have released the canopy even then. Most all of these old warbirds can operate with the canopy cracked / open with the limiting speed factor normally being attributed to prevention of canopy damage, but the airframe will still fly sans canopy. Get it open / out of the way (damaging the canopy is the least of your worries if you are opening it for emergency egress) then troubleshoot your problem with a hard deck to bail out if not under control by that altitude.

Some things to keep in mind in this deal...

- Rob has owned that aircraft for 15 years so he knew it like the back of his hand...he would not bail on her without good cause.
- In a pitch out break Rob would have been looking back over his left shoulder for the field and downwind...never saw this coming
- A hit like that would slam the stick / pedals and can brake an arm or ankles...not to mention banging your head on the canopy
- As was mentioned, a Mustang cockpit is fairly tight...Rob had practiced this egress many times in the past to do so as fast as he did.
- There is a training program specifically for warbird and aerobatic pilots that teaches quick & safe bail out procedures.

***This is strictly an armchair opinion based on the limited video angles*** It appears that lead pulled into an easy break (maybe 2 - 3 g's) and may have relaxed a bit on the pull to downwind...#2 followed after a 3 second count but pulled into a much more aggressive break (maybe 3 - 4 g's) resulting in a turn inside of lead. #2 would not have lead in sight as he initiated the break as he would be maintaining position with #3 on the initial and would begin looking back over his shoulder for lead in the break expecting to see him rolling onto downwind to which he would fall into extended trail. Because #2 pulled more aggressively and turned inside of lead, lead would not be in the sight picture where he "should" be. The issue would be further compounded by the fact that lead would now be "under" the nose / wing of #2 due to the smaller turn radius and not visible. Now you have a "lost visual" scenario in a small / busy airspace which is a very dangerous scenario.

A standard formation brief usually includes the pitchout parameter, i.e. "we will enter initial in the Vic at 500 ft with a climbing pitchout at the first taxiway...Lead will break followed by 2 then 3 with 3 second intervals and a 3g pull...call gear and locks on base...land left...right side is cold." With the caliber of pilots that were flying at this show I would assume they were well briefed and experienced, but accidents can happen. Rob said it best in his interview: "A simple error in judgement which caused an accident"

Here is the interview with Rob Davies who was piloting Big Beautiful Doll...first class interview and very professional without pointing blame.

lowflybye wrote:Here is the interview with Rob Davies who was piloting Big Beautiful Doll...first class interview and very professional without pointing blame.

Thanks for posting the interview...very professional indeed.

Looking at the other footage from Duxford, many of the aircraft were pulling at less than 2 sec intervals. It does appear that the Skyraider waited at least 2 secs if not 3? But during the interview footage, at 34 secs and another angle at 37 secs it is clear the break procedure did not give as much clearance between aircraft as is normally seen in a 2-3 sec break interval - where # 3 is right there in the mix during the mid-air! I brief and will often go through the motions of bail out, but that was snappy quick, action and judgement! Hell of a save.